A Prequel to Anne of Green Gables
by muns123
Summary: Ever wonder if Anne's appearance into the Cuthbert family was actually an accident? This is a prequel about Anne's journey before she arrived to Green Gables.


Anne Shirley sat on her lumpy old bed in the Hopetown Asylum daydreaming about what it would be like living as a bumblebee. She marvelled at the freedom that bumblebees had and imagined herself flying into the center of the trumpet shaped June Bell in gardens all over Halifax. She could practically smell the sweetness of the glorious gardens when Sally, her bunkmate, threw a pillow at her,

"Earth to Anne! We have chores to do, remember! We will get in trouble if the floors aren't sparkling by noon!"

Anne knew she had to get her act in gear, the rules around the asylum were incredibly strict and Mrs. Barnes, their supervisor, didn't like lollygaggers. But Anne was so tired of the asylum and was no longer scared of Mrs. Barns cold snake like eyes, stalking every move of the girls that lived on her floor. Anne would much prefer to lie on her bed and imagine living in any world, other than her own.

Finally, through some nagging from Sally, Anne began to scrub the floors, as she was supposed to do every other day. While she was immersed in her job, or rather her daydream of her sitting under a waterfall with her pretend blossom friend, she heard a high pitch squeal of excitement from the other room. Anne's daydream evaporated around her. She picked up her bucket and went to see what the commotion was all about. Susan, another girl living on her floor, was told that she was being adopted and her new family was going to pick her up at sunrise tomorrow. Anne couldn't believe it. Between her terrible luck with her previous foster homes and now being stuck in the asylum, she was beginning to lose all hope in ever getting a normal life. She mostly blamed her poor luck on her carrot red hair and freckled face. No one else in the entire asylum was cursed with having her hideous hair colour and she envied all the other girls living on her floor.

Anne's days of routine chores and daydreaming passed by slowly. It was the middle of the spring, and life was blooming outside of the asylum. On a particularly warm sunny morning, Anne rushed to get her chores done so she could spend the afternoon outside. After getting Mrs. Barnes approval on the cleanliness of the common area, Anne pulled on her starchy old coat and ran outside. As she ran outside she could feel the sun's heat penetrating through the wool of her coat, warming Anne right to the core. She inhaled deeply and got lost in the scent of fresh grass and blossoming flowers. As she was laying in the grass, absorbing the sunshine, with her eyes closed, she felt a shadow overcome her. Without opening her eyes, Anne said politely,

"Sorry, but do you mind moving over slightly, you are blocking my warmth".

"Sorry little lady, I hate to bother you, but do you live here?" said the man standing over her.

Anne opened her eyes to an older gentleman with a kind smile. He was carrying an oversized bag of parcels, with a Canada Post logo embroidered onto his shirt.

"I sure do, is there anyway I can be of assistance?" said Anne.

The man explained to Anne, "I am running extremely late today, and these poor old legs of mine won't take me to places as fast as they used too. Would you mind bringing these letters up into the mailroom?"

Anne happily agreed and took the small stack of letter from the man. As the man turned his back to continue on his way, Anne hugged the stack of mail. There was something about mail that Anne loved dearly. The idea of having a pen pal always intrigued the young girl, but she was never lucky enough to have one. In fact, Anne had never received anything in the mail at all. The temptation to open an envelope was strong. She knew it wasn't for her, but she imagined it was.

She toyed with the idea of ripping the top open, and unfolding a beautiful piece of parchment paper, with the words "Dear Anne…" or rather "Dear Cordelia…" in bold cursive writing. Anne always wanted to be named Cordelia, she believed Anne wasn't romantic enough. Eventually, Anne's imagination got the better of her. She picked up one of the letters addressed to Hopetown Asylum from "Mrs. Spencer", and carefully sliced the top of the envelope. Inside were two crisp pieces of paper folded into a tiny rectangle. Anne stroked the soft paper and inhaled the bitter smell of ink. Anne's eyes grazed over the first piece of paper. It was a letter to a "Mrs. Spencer" from a "Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert". The letter was asking Mrs. Spencer to go through the process of adopting a young strong male from the Hopetown Asylum to help out around the Green Gables farm since Matthew is beginning to get older. Anne dropped the letter and started to imagine what Green Gables looked like. She imagined herself in a valley with massive weeping willows and gardens full of bright blossoming flowers.

Anne proceeded to pick up the second letter. This letter was addressed to Mrs. Barns from Mrs. Spencer. The letter stated:

Dear Mrs. Barnes,

As outline in the Cuthbert's letter, they are interested in adopting a young, hardworking boy (around the age of 11 or 12) to help out around the farm. I have known Marilla and Matthew for many years, and while they are quite shy and keep to themselves, they would be great guardians for a child.

Additionally, following up on our previous discussion, I would like to adopt Lily Jones or someone around the age of 5. Please send both children to the train station this Friday and Matthew and myself will find the remaining transportation to their new homes.

Best regards,

Mrs. Spencer

Anne began to weep; she knew she would never get adopted. People only wanted hard working boys or cute young girls with pretty chestnut hair. Before Anne knew what she was doing, she pulled out her notebook and wrote a new letter to Mrs. Barns. The new letter began with…

Dear Mrs. Barns,

The Cuthbert's, whom are close friends of mine, are interested in adopting a young hardworking girl (around the age of 11 or 12 and preferably with red hair) to help out around their farm…

Best Regards,

Mrs. Spencer

Anne quickly resealed the envelope with the new letter in it, tucked it in the middle of the rest of the mail and brought it up to the main office of the asylum, hiding the original letters deep in the pocket of her spring jacket.


End file.
